Page 8 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

“It’s literally the same. Are you just jealous that you aren’t my first god?”

He frowned, a seriousness draping over his features that made me wish I could snatch my words back. “Maybe, a bit,” he whispered.

“Hey.” I kissed him, letting my lips linger before resting my forehead against his. “I’ve had sex with him once. You and me… it’s a completely different thing.”

Apollo’s shoulders dropped, and he pulled in closer to me. “I’m sorry.” He trailed his fingers along my arm like the gentle touch of rain. “This is new for me. I’ve never had someone who was mine before. It means”—he swallowed—“everything to me, Cyn.”

“I am yours.” I scraped my teeth over the corner of his jaw. “In every way. And this is new for me too. For one thing, I’ve never been serious enough with anyone to introduce them to my father before.”

“Yeah, well, he’d terrify the fuck out of anyone, god or otherwise, I imagine.”

“I knew you didn’t tell me everything. What did he say?”

Apollo chuckled and lifted my fingers, kissing them before pulling back. “I love you. Whatever the cost, even a few questions from a worried parent”—I frowned, but he pressed forward—“is well worth it.”

I groaned. “Anyway, if you need to hear it from me, our relationship means the world to me.”

Apollo smiled, an expression so gentle it almost didn’t suit him, spreading over his features. “I feel the same. Okay, enough coddling me. What was your idea?”

I leaned back against the bench. A fountain in the distance gurgled. “Perhaps it was a bad one, after all.”

“Please tell me.”

I sighed. “I thought we could go to the Palace of the Four Winds, and I could…” I rolled my hand out as if the air would offer words I couldn’t find. “Talk with Zephyrus. See what he might know.”

Apollo’s lips pinched. “You mean flirt with Zephyrus?”

“As I said, maybe it’s a bad idea.”

Apollo groaned. “No, it’s a good one. I just don’t like it.”

“Then I won’t. Hurting you wouldn’t be worth it to me.”

“I didn’t say you shouldn’t do it.” He draped his fingers on my thigh. My muscle jumped, the blood coursing under his hand warming. “I told you when I returned with you, I’m here with you and to help you with this war. So…” He let his head drift towards his shoulder. “If this is necessary, then so be it. I can see the point. He’s bound to tell a lover things he wouldn’t discuss with others.”

“We’re not lovers. We had one—disappointing, at that—night together.”

A wicked grin slipped up on Apollo’s face, and he leaned in against me, trailing his tongue up my neck. “Oh, that’s too bad, Prince. Perhaps I could help you forget.”

I hummed in response. “Maybe I’d like that.”

“It’s fairly private here.”

“But also, one of my father’s favorite places to visit unexpectedly.”

He scoffed and pulled away from me. “Why don’t you just throw a bucket of ice water on me?”

I laughed. “We’ve swum in cold water before; it did not help us keep our hands off each other.”

“Yeah, which should be surprising on my part since you had just shoved me off a cliff.”

“You jumped.”

Apollo twisted his mouth up. “That’s debatable.” His smile faded, his gaze growing distant.

I bumped my shoulder into his. “What’s wrong?”

“He has wings, Cyn.”